by Cara Violet
“I’m sorry about your sister, I saw—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she said over the top of him.
“You know I loved your family,” he said.
“You did?”
“Yes, but there is something you should know, Kaianan.”
“And what is that?”
Dersji took time to stare at the white-haired banshee. Should he tell her his revelations? His conversations with Darayan? About how there was something indeed separating Kaianan from her family? Could she handle any further information at this point? Finding out that the Felrin want to kill you to stop a prophecy, that the Giliou transpired against you, that the Necromancers invaded your home to open Holom’s Door and that your parents died in the name of it, and your kid sister fell in love and left you, probably was enough for her to cope with.
Dersji decided to let it be. “Let’s discuss it during your training.”
She sniggered, “you want to train a white-haired banshee?”
“The hair is actually growing on me,” he confessed.
“If I knew you any better, I’d say that was a lie.”
“Ah,” he said grinning, “you do know me better, Kaianan, you probably know me better than you know yourself.”
“Do I?”
“We have a lot of catching up to do …” Dersji said, inside his thoughts of Kaianan and how he tormented her through all her training experiences with him, “I’ll do some meditating on how I’m going to reform our bond.”
“What about Arlise?” she said and Dersji felt like a knife had gone through his heart, “I mean, didn’t you two, like, have a Liege and Menial bond too?”
Dersji said nothing, only after a while did he find his voice.
“Up until a few weeks ago I thought he was dead.”
“But he’s immortal?” Kaianan said blatantly, “…. and a smart ass I might add.”
Dersji chuckled, feeling his face hurt from how wide he had smiled. Arlise was a swine when he wanted to be.
“I’m glad he’s shown you his true colours so quickly.”
“That’s all he’s done,” Kaianan said in a mocking breath.
“Aye, Liege can die, Kaianan … when you become one, don’t forget that. Your heart still beats, but the Kan’Ging takes over … and Mercury can still stop it from beating.”
She nodded.
“Do you think Arlise will work with the Felrin?”
Dersji sighed at her words. It was a question he knew the answer to, but a part of him didn’t want to tell her.
“They never liked my son, but they did everything in their power to turn him against me. When he was assured of their approval, he spent his young years trying to please the board of principals.”
“Do you think he’s still like that? I thought he was a cynic?”
Dersji was the cynic. She didn’t remember that though. “I don’t know …” Dersji grimaced in slight pain as his stomach wound churned inside him, “that Felrin girl,” he said looking to Kaianan, “I’ve never seen her before.”
“Adrel …. She’s a Menial.”
“Impossible, it’s been several hundred thousand years since a bond.”
“What about Arlise, what about you and I?”
“Arlise and I were born like that,” he said, “not classified as a bond, it was a birth link. And you and I, yes, we were the last of a dying breed. I wonder who Adrel has bonded with?”
“I would assume Liege Jarryd?” she said.
Dersji felt his jaw tighten against his cheeks. Liege Jarryd had a Menial? Hogwash!
“Arlise wouldn’t know her, would he?” Kaianan’s words came out quick.
“I’m not sure, why?” Dersji searched her anxious face.
“No reason.”
Oh, but the reason was written all over her face. “Kaianan, how long did you spend with my son?”
“Not long at all.”
“He is damned; a hybrid and a prophetic Relic … he’s as damned as you are, and you would do yourself a disservice if you entangle with him. Stay well away from Arlise Brikin.”
Her eyes had faded out, she looked away from him. Was there trust here between them? Would she run off on him through the night? For once, Dersji couldn’t be certain of an answer. This wasn’t his Menial, he had to keep reminding himself, even if every inch of him was furious at that.
“We need sleep now—” Dersji suddenly fell back when he was charged at by a maroon-skinned stick insect.
“CUKI!” Dersji shouted, channelling his anger toward the Daem-Raal. “STOP!” Dersji threw the critter down and raised his hand. “Listen to me, you Mugadeer—”
“Calm down, will you?” Kaianan interjected and crouched down to where Cuki was cowering. “… leave him alone, he’s scared.”
Dersji couldn’t believe her retort. “There is no time to be scared.”
She simply rolled her eyes and scooped up Cuki, to sit him down with her next to the fire. Cuki just frowned at her. It was a sight he couldn’t take his eyes away from as she spoke to the Daem-Raal.
“Sleep Cuki and rest. This is a peaceful woods; it’s time for you to be peaceful.”
Cuki curled up in her lap. She stroked his tiny limbs and he nodded off almost instantly.
The most powerful anomaly he had ever seen was caressing a Daem-Raal to sleep? You couldn’t read about it in any Felrin fable. Why did Dersji’s heart burn right at this moment? Why was he fighting against all the emotion stabbing at him? Had it been that long since he’d seen her? And did he actually miss her as much as he missed Arlise? But this wasn’t his family. He had to not give in to the emotion, no, no, no –
But he couldn’t push against it anymore, not at the expense of his sanity, and realising his part to play in her life was beginning all over again, he let out a big sigh, sat down near her and smiled.
“You’re good at that,” and when he said it, she smiled right back.
It was an automatic smile toward a man she felt somewhat unsure of. Kaianan stopped her cheeks from their spread and instead raised her eyebrows.
What was going on with him? He obviously wasn’t all there. And she was certain he was lying about half the things he was telling her. The Question was: could she trust him? Was this really the mentor everyone spoke about? Why did everyone tell her about him? On Rook Mountain, he had schooled her, and tried to get her to listen. He supported her. But why? Maybe he was who he says he is? Did she have any other choice? She was stuck on Felrin, with a Daem-Raal on her lap and a Felrin Liege looking completely suspicious at her.
But she couldn’t dismiss her only possible ally, especially when he had given her no reason to. For now, she would try and trust him.
“What will the Felrin do to me if they find me?” she asked him. Knowing that he had avoided all those questions about the past, but maybe he would have insight to the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours in front of them. “I’m certain they’re going to kill me.”
“Well, initially I overheard a meeting in which they discussed your execution.”
She swallowed. “So, what would be their plan? How would they go about finding us?”
“Well, we are currently two fugitives on the loose,” he said, “as a Liege I am certainly not allowed to be unaccounted for. You on the other hand are the Rivalex Mark. They will have to prioritise hunting you … then there’s working out how to manufacture the smoke of the Siliou to stop the poisoning spread of Holom by those lovely creatures, the Pernicious … and somehow find the Defeated King.”
Kaianan was absorbing it all; how much her life had changed in the past months since her transformation. She had never felt so alone. Julius was right, finding someone that you clicked with wasn’t easy. She wanted to be more open with Dersji about what she was feeling but deep down, there was something nagging at her to keep her mouth shut. If the Felrin were to kill her though, like Dersji said wasn’t this her only chance to open up?
“I saw that Prudence woma
n, she was screaming,” Kaianan diverted the conversation when she remembered that blonde curly hair of the Felrin woman. “She was the one Liege Jarryd said wanted to meet me. Do you know her?”
Dersji puckered his lips out. “I do. I’m surprised she didn’t apprehend you right then and there.”
She watched him yawn.
Kaianan had no idea what day or time it was, the sun was setting though and it was getting cooler. Her mind couldn’t concentrate on all the information let alone the fact it was solidified that the strongest species in the world wanted to execute her.
“You want to sleep?” she heard Dersji ask. She shook her head.
“Not yet,” she replied, but got up and placed Cuki in the tent and sat back down by the fire, wiping her hands. There was too much on her mind for sleep just yet. She needed more answers.
“What went on back there?” she said, referring to the events surrounding the strange noise and creatures in the water. “What was that lullaby music that just suddenly began? The things that came out of the river too? Out of the Felrin water? Those fish things that killed the Pernicious, that killed the Felrin, that consumed everyone? I think Prudence was behind it, I mean everyone was in a trance but her—”
In spite of his tiredness Dersji’s face scrunched up. “What are you talking about, Kaianan?” The tone of his voice was disbelieving. “The Felrin Shiek killed the Pernicious.”
“What? You didn’t see the creatures in the water?”
“No. There were no creatures in the water,” he said sternly.
“Yes, there were,” she said honestly. “We were all walking toward the river. The river running around the Felrin city walls. I saw you! I saw everyone! Everyone was in some sort of trance when the music started. Being pulled to the water. Those grey-skinned fish, the huge-jawed creatures—they kept eating everyone who got close. They even dismembered and consumed Felrin Shiek.”
Dersji was silent. His eyes strayed from her. Did he not believe her?
“It’s like he knew I could see them,” she said, her eyes enlarged. She was right back to the moment when she was being shaken by the grey claws. “He knew I could get us out of there.”
“Who?” Dersji questioned.
She glanced at him. “The Defeated King.”
“What in Holom’s name are you talking about?”
“I ‘ported us out. The Defeated King and I … I … I think he took us to the watchtower, purposefully.”
“Kaianan, Arlise blasted the Defeated King and sent him through a Vector to Tiegra, trying to save you.” His tone hardened. “You got held by the Defeated King and dragged through with him.”
“What?”
“He sucked you through with him,” Dersji repeated.
Kaianan jerked her head back in perplexity. That didn’t make sense. How could he believe those things when that didn’t happen? She knew exactly what she saw. She knew the Defeated King witnessed the same things as she did. Holom, he even saved her by shaking her awake and moving them out of the mesmerised line.
Her head was in her hands. Confusion laced through her. What was going on? So much had happened since leaving Layos. Her parents were dead, Chituma had escaped with Caidus, Julius left her, she’d turned into a banshee, and now she was becoming delusional? Did that really not happen? Did she dream the fish all up?
She felt like ripping her hair out. Everything was bottling up inside her, she had not spoken to anyone about anything, and at this moment she felt the weight of everything she had experienced, heavy on her shoulders. How long could she keep going? She felt overwhelmed, yet deep inside of her she wanted to see Arlise, to talk to him about it all. She didn’t trust Julius nor Xandou, nor perhaps even Dersji; but Arlise was blunt and direct; an absolute Fask of a Harpy, but worthy of giving advice. Dersji would kill her if he knew she thought about Arlise in such a way. But there was a part of her that felt when she was with Arlise, on the one hand, they were totally different, but on the other, they were just two people trying to get through this whole thing the best they could without trying to control it.
She had a lot of respect for him, despite turning away from him. It was unfortunate her skinny giant was now back with the Felrin, and it was something she would have to contemplate when they met again. Would he be friend or foe?
“Where the Defeated King went should be our major concern,” Dersji said, bringing Kaianan back to reality. Back to the other very real threat in front of her.
She lifted her head up to face him. “Tiegra told him to enjoy the Harpies.”
“Aye, he won’t stay there even a minute. Just another lot of archaea infected crossbreeds to him,” Dersji paused in contemplation. “He would have control of Tiegra by now … He’ll most likely claim all the gatekeepers no doubt; I believe they’ll go missing, as they did centuries ago during his reign. Perhaps taken control of a good chunk of the Siliou too,” he said hollowly. “However, he still he needs to create an army. I know this beast of a man. He needs preforms he can control, exactly like he did a thousand years ago, to puppet with Silkri … question is … where would he get them?”
She struggled to breathe. “Preforms?” she wiped her forehead anxiously, recalling the vision of her ancestor’s shield and suddenly, with a lurch in her chest, realised why Medusa had ventured there, why she had spent the end of her life defending those that were weaker than her.
“Right where I lead every bounty hunter known to the universe, destroying their unyielding Vector security and rupturing their planet’s protection …” Kaianan felt her throat get stuck, and her heart kept pounding, faster and louder in her ears.
It took her a moment to slow her panting breath and admit the truth of where this man-beast was headed. She chocked back the emotion and muttered out, “…Earth. He’s going to Earth.”